What are your colours? Do they include a rainbow? Public attitudes to the LGBT community to be the focus of a school board conference.

News 100 yellowBy Staff

May 9th, 2016

BURLINGTON, ON

Halton District School Board’s annual Inside and Out Conference will take place on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 at Country Heritage Park, 8560 Tremaine Rd., Milton.
Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m., with the conference concluding at 2 p.m.

HRPS cruieser with rainbow stripes

The Regional police have been very supportive and proactive in the way they work with the LGBT community. It’s the rest of the community that has to get onside.

The conference, titled, Inside and Out – What Are Your Colours? is in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity and the Positive Space Network of Halton. These organizations work to eliminate bullying, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of discrimination in schools and youth communities.

The goal of the all-day conference is to provide a forum for students and staff, through various workshops, to discuss how they can make their schools more welcoming and inclusive for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and two spirit individuals.

The conference will also celebrate equity and diversity in the Halton District School Board. It is being organized by the Safe and Inclusive Schools Team and staff and students at Acton High School and McKenzie-Smith Bennett Public School, including their Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) groups.

The conference will open with guest speaker MPP Cheri DiNovo, who is an activist for the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender people. The conference will close with a slam poetry performance by Jenna Tenn-Yuk. There will also be a reading by Nik Kaur-Singh and closing comments by Sam Lambert, both former Halton District School Board students and LGBTQ+ rights advocates.

A number of community agencies will be attending the conference including Halton Public Health, SAVIS, Positive Space Network, Youth Action Committee, EGALE Canada and New Directions Ministries.

The meeting is open to anyone wishing to attend

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